August 2014 ERP Competency Changes

Summary

More Information

On August 11, 2014, Microsoft announced changes to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) competency. Silver and gold ERP competency partners focusing on the following products are no longer required to complete exams and certifications:

Microsoft Dynamics C5

Microsoft Dynamics GP

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics RMS

Microsoft Dynamics SL

This includes presales and sales assessments, as well as implementation methodology and technical certifications covering both the Service Provider Agreement (SPA) and the Microsoft Partner Network.

These partners will still need to complete the following requirements:

A: This is a time of major transition to the cloud, especially in the small and medium business (SMB) segment. It is important that partners have the flexibility to invest their readiness time and money in areas most impactful to their individual businesses. This will often be Office 365 training, training on a new vertical product created by independent software vendors, or sales, marketing and non-technical business transformation training.

Q: Why did the change take place?

A: The biggest business imperative for our SMB focused products (NAV, GP, SL, RMS and C5) and partners is the shift to the Cloud – “On Azure” and “In Office 365”. Now is the time to allow partners the freedom and flexibility in transitioning their businesses to a cloud-based model and expanding their product offering to “A Business Solution from Microsoft.”

Q: Does this indicate a reduction in the focus and investment in Microsoft’s SMB enterprise resource planning product lines?

A: No. In fact, the amount of money and resources dedicated to training and readiness for these product lines is at its highest level in years. Microsoft made the decision to redirect money and time previously spent on the creation of exams and assessments towards the creation of more training and readiness content.

Q: What training and readiness investments are being made specifically in the Dynamics ERP product lines focused on the SMB market?

A: A high level overview of some of the planned FY15 training and readiness offerings are as follows:

30+ hours of online Road to Repeatability content available for partners at no charge - spanning leadership, marketing, sales, and technical roles

Technical guidance for Dynamics GP and Dynamics NAV on hosting on Microsoft Azure

Significant number of new titles for FY15, with a focus on producing smaller-sized training for convenient consumption

Twice-monthly roundtables with members of the development teams for key insights and updates

Finally, Dynamics ERP partners benefit from the recently announced price reduction of the partner training pack from US$6,000 to US$1,000, giving them unlimited access to improved L100 and L200 online training.

Q: Are these products still included in the ERP competency and are they still eligible for gold and silver attainment levels and the associated benefits?

A: Yes. In order to qualify, partners must meet the remaining requirements:

Minimum gross license revenue and BREP revenue recapture rates

Customer references

Participation in the Customer Satisfaction Index survey

Q: Are silver and gold ERP competency benefits such as internal-use rights software and branding impacted by this change?

A: No, ERP competency benefits are not impacted by this change.

Q: How are Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners impacted by this announcement?

A: They are not impacted. All existing assessments and certifications are still required for Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM.

A: The Dynamics AX partner community serves a different market and has different readiness needs than those of the Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL, Dynamics RMS, and Dynamics C5 partners. To make the best use of our resources and your time, we want to address the specific needs of our SMB Enterprise Resource Planning competency partners.

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